If you’ve just set up a new business, one of the most important things you need to do (besides all the nitty gritty involved in launching the business) is to get your content marketing assets ready. 

Invest your time and energy into copywriting and developing an effective content strategy so that you can make your online and offline presence felt. Help your business take off by creating and distributing valuable content that creates brand awareness, drives conversions and increases sales. 

Here are the top 10 content marketing assets you need to have when you start your business. 

1. Corporate profile 

The corporate profile defines what your company is all about, including the brand positioning, your goals or objectives, your target market, your key services or products and what you hope to achieve. Essentially, this is similar to the “About Us” page on your corporate website. Your corporate profile should be succinct and easily understood. If you will be using it for your website, then make sure you include the relevant SEO keywords. 

2. Optimised website 

A website is a must-have for every business. This is where your prospective and existing customers can find out more about your profile, business, services or products. If you’re launching an e-commerce store, then a well-structured website with great product descriptions is essential. It is important to optimise your website with the right keywords so your customers can easily find your business when they search for the kind of products or services you offer. This is where SEO copywriting comes in handy. 

3. Social media

As a new business, you need to build up your social media following so that you can share new product offerings, promotions and events with your customers. YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the more popular social media channels which businesses use to reach out to customers. Start by creating the right profile (that is also optimised) for your social media account and create a content strategy so you can post regularly. Here’s where a blog posts, videos and infographics and other news about events and promotions can come in handy.  

4. Video

Video marketingis becoming more and more popular with businesses as it’s a great way to catch the attention of customers with short attention spans. Invest some time to develop a script and shoot a short explainer video for your start-up. Explainer videos can help to introduce your product, service or business in an engaging way. You can post it on your website, on YouTube and share it on other social media channels. 

5. Infographics 

Infographicsare increasingly used, especially in B2B marketing, and are a great way to distill data and statistics into an easy-to-understand format. They can help to demonstrate your knowledge or expertise in particular area relevant to your industry. Visually compelling, an infographic breaks down complex data, organising and synthesising them into easily digestible chunks of information. They combine the best of text, graphics and design to grab your customers’ attention. 

6. Marketing collateral 

Marketing collateral provides information to your customers about your company and products or services. Examples include brochures, catalogues or flyers. They are versatile marketing tools and can be displayed in stores, distributed at trade shows or handed out during business meetings. 

7. Press kit 

If you plan to engage with the media, whether for a media interview or a press briefing, then you need to create a press kit. The press kit provides relevant information to members of the media and helps to shape the narrative for the announcement you plan to make. A press kit would typically include a press release as well as other information such as a corporate profile, factsheet, a list of FAQs, or other relevant promotional or marketing collateral. 

8. Thought leadership material 

If you operate in the B2B space, then it makes sense to invest time and effort in developing thought leadership content. Examples include white papers, blog posts, editorial commentaries, insight or trend reports and survey research. Having a content strategy that incorporates thought leadership can help to build up your brand and create lead generation opportunities. Differentiate your organisation from your competitors by generating insights that are fresh and original. 

9. Newsletter or email marketing templates 

Although many companies are turning to social media marketing, newsletter marketing is still a cost-effective strategy that can be used to engage with customer, enhance sales and increase brand royalty. With marketing automation, you can start to build marketing campaign and create templates for a series of emails with varying frequencies targeted at the right people at the right time. 

10. Presentation decks 

Presentation, proposal or pitch decks are a key tool in B2B marketing, as they paint a strong picture of how you can add value to your clients or solve their problems with your products or services. They should be concise, compelling and visually appealing. Always tailor your presentations to your audience’s goals, needs and pain points. 

 

Every business needs an online presence. That’s a given in today’s digital-driven economy. Usually, this takes the form of a website.

But to really capitalise and build on this online presence, you need more than just a static website. You need fresh content to keep on generating traffic and reeling in potential customers. The solution: create a blog.

A blog helps you grow your business by keeping you connected to current customers and helping you to acquire new customers.

Yet many businesses feel that they don’t have the copywriting expertise or resources to start a blog. It’s true that creating and maintaining a successful business blog takes time and effort. But it will pay off in the long run.

Here’s 10 reasons why you need a business blog.

1. A blog gives your business a voice

 Every brand has a voice. It’s the tone and personality of your brand. It’s how you communicate with your customers. It’s how you express yourself and convey your messages to your customers. A blog is the perfect platform to amplify your brand’s voice and develop a consistent way of delivering messages about your brand. It gives your customers a feel for who you are and what you represent.

2. It allows you to deliver purposeful content

 Your blog is for your customers. So write for them. The key is to give your customers valuable content. Give them solutions to their problems. Share your opinion on important developments in the industry. Feed them with knowledge. Offer advice. Provide a different perspective. Craft your content with your customer in mind. To do that, it’s useful to develop a persona.

3. It helps you to establish authority

 By giving your readers useful, high-quality information through your blog, you establish yourself as an authority in the industry. When your prospective customers can find the answers to their questions on your blog, they will begin to identify you as an expert on the topic. By showcasing your knowledge and becoming an important online resource, prospective customers are more likely to trust you and eventually approach you to engage your service or buy your products.

4. A blog is good for SEO – Google loves fresh content

 Google views websites which have regular updates more favourably than those with hardly any new content. The more updates you have on your website, the more your website will be indexed or crawled by Google. And this will improve your SEO rankings. One of the most effective ways to pump out fresh content is through a blog. So put in effort to write your blog posts – Google will reward you for it.

5. It allows you to incorporate keywords … and that’s good for SEO too

 Blog posts give you the perfect opportunity to search-engine optimise your content. And that’s another way to improve your search rankings. Incorporate keywords and phrases into your blog post titles and content to help you get noticed by Google. Do it right and your website or blog post will show up in keyword searches. So before you write your blog posts, think about what your potential customers will type into Google’s search engines and craft your content around it.

6. A blog drives traffic to your website

 Everytime you write a blog post, you add another indexed page to your website. So, the more you blog, the better you rank in search engines and the higher the chances that someone will click on your link and visit your blog or website. Regular traffic that’s going to your website gives Google the signal that your website as an active one so it should regularly check in to see what new content has been added.

7. And you can convert that traffic into leads

 Once you’ve built up your blog and your website is getting ranked in search engines, you’re likely to see a regular stream of traffic to your blog. If you have interesting content, readers are more likely to hang around your blog or website to check out what else you have to offer. This gives you the opportunity to generate new leads. In your blog posts or other areas on your website, include a call-to-action. Depending on what you want your customers to do, you can get them to sign up for a newsletter, contact you for more information, sign up for a free trial, attend a webinar or arrange for an appointment.

8. It supports your social media marketing

 Blog content helps to support your social media presence. Each time you create a blog post, you can promote it on your social medial channels through short snippets, teasers and catchy headlines. Share the link on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest. When your followers click on that link, you are also driving traffic to your website. These clicks are great from an SEO perspective. You can also place social media sharing buttons on your blog posts to encourage your readers to share your posts with their own circles.

9. It supports your email marketing

 If you have a regular newsletter for your subscribers, then that blog post can be featured in your newsletter, including a link back to your website. If you’re working on growing an email list, then you can include a call-to-action at the end of your blog posts to urge readers to subscribe to your newsletter for more of such posts to be delivered to their inbox regularly. This will keep your business in the top-of-the-mind for your subscribers each time they receive your email.

10. It allows your customers to get to know you a bit better

 A blog can be a great way to encourage conversation with your customers and prospects. Respond to the comments and feedback on your blog or the social media posts which link to your blog. You can learn a great deal about what your customers think about your company, products and services. At the same time, use their feedback to further improve the way you market your products and services deliver information.

The ‘About Us’ page is a must-have for any business creating a website. One of the most important pages on your website, the About Us page helps you to establish a unique brand identity and convert leads into sales. That’s why you should put more thought into copywriting the web content for that page.

Your visitors go to the About Us page to get a sense for your business. They want to know who you are and whether they can trust your business, product or service. Keep these 5 copywriting tips in mind when you craft content for your About Us page.

1. The golden rule: it’s not about you, it’s about your customer

Although the page is titled About Us, the golden rule to remember is that it’s not about you, but about your customer. It’s perfectly fine to include a narrative about your company’s beginnings. After all, this is about your brand history and heritage. But don’t make this the focal point.

Instead, focus on your customers and how you can address their needs or solve their problems. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and imagine what sort of questions they have about your product and service. Then, craft your content to answer those questions. Always, always, keep your target audience in mind.

2. Adopt a friendly tone

Your customers want to know that they can count on you. They want to get a feel for who you are and how your values resonate with them. So, use a friendly and conversational tone when writing your copy.

A very easy way to do this is to use the first person tense when you are doing your copywriting – as if you are talking to your customers in person. Using terms such as ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘you’ and ‘your’ humanizes your business and makes you come across as more approachable, relatable and personal.

3. Make your business stand out

The About Us page is a chance for you to tell your customers why your business is unique and how you are different from your competitors. Use facts and figures to back this up.

Does your product use a special formulation or ingredient? Do you have an exclusive technique or method for teaching? Is your product one-of-a-kind?

Whatever business you are in, think about why your product or service is superior to others. Find your customers’ or prospects’ hot buttons and demonstrate how your service or product can solve their problems.

4. Show your passion

Let your brand personality shine through in your About Us page. A wonderful technique to do this is to tell a story that captures the heart of your business and which draws attention to your strengths.

Be positive and upbeat. Use this narrative to showcase your passion for the business and for helping your customers. This will make your customers want to know more about you and what you do or sell.

5. Don’t forget to market yourself

Let’s not forget that your website is here to help you with your business – whether it’s through generating leads, clinching an online sale or getting newsletter sign-ups. Besides providing information, you need to promote your products or services.

Always link back to why your customers should shop with you or use your service.
For example, if you are showcasing your years of experience or the prestigious awards you have won, what does this mean for your customers? Explain why this is important and how it translates to better products or services for your customers.

Every business needs a website. To maximize your online footprint, you need to optimise your website so that you’ll not only show up in search engine results but also rank well.

That’s where copywriting comes in. By crafting the right text centered around your keyword, you can improve your search rankings. Meta descriptions – the 160-character snippet which summarizes the content of your webpage – are an important element of SEO copywriting.

Meta descriptions persuade your customers to visit your website. We’ve covered the importance of meta descriptions in our previous blog post. Now, we’ll focus on how to write effective meta descriptions.

6 tips on writing meta descriptions that will get you more clicks

1. Keep meta descriptions under 155 – 160 characters

Google generally limits your meta description by pixel width. This roughly translates to a cap of 155 – 160 characters on your meta description. Aim to write a meta description that does not exceed 160 characters. Otherwise, you’ll find your snippet truncated with ellipses.

2. The meta description should contain the focus keyword

If you are optimising your website for a specific keyword, you should include that in your meta description. If a user searches for a particular keyword phrase (longtail keyword) and that forms part of the text in your meta description, it will appear in bold in Google’s search results. This will attract the user’s attention. Include your keyword near the beginning of the sentence. This not only emphasizes that your webpage content is related to the topic, but it also reduces the chance that your keyword will be cut off due to the character limit.

3. The meta description should be relevant to the content of the webpage

Let your audience know exactly what they’ll find by visiting your website. Write descriptively, but also concisely. Meta descriptions should match the content of your website. Do not try to trick your audience into clicking through to your website by writing something that is totally unrelated to your content. You may find yourself unnecessarily penalized by Google.

4. Your meta description should be unique

Each webpage should have its own unique meta description. Avoid having the same meta description across your entire website. If it’s not necessary to have a meta description for each webpage, then leave the meta description blank so that Google can automatically generate a snippet from your webpage. What’s important is that you should have meta descriptions for your most important revenue-generating or “money-making” webpages, such as the home page or product-specific pages.

5. Include a call-to-action in your meta description

Make your meta description work for you. Add a call-to-action and use the active voice. Include phrases such as “Find out more”, “Discover”, “Learn more about” or “Get your offer today” at the end of your meta description to encourage visitors to click through to your website.

6. Showcase your value proposition in the meta description

Your meta description should include a solution or benefit. Tell the searcher why they should visit your website – focus on what benefit, value or solution they will get. What makes your product or service special and how will it solve their problem – keep this in mind when you articulate your sentence.

Effective meta descriptions can help to boost your search engine rankings and increase your click-through rates. Optimising meta descriptions is part of on-site SEO (search engine optimisation).

Writing meta descriptions is part and parcel of SEO copywriting. If you’re not putting in enough effort to write effective meta descriptions that drive traffic to your website, you could be losing out on potential leads and customers.

What is a meta description?

A meta description is a short snippet of up to 160 characters which summarizes the content on your webpage.

It appears below the page title and URL in search results. When users type in a keyword or phrase in a search engine, words that match that search term in your meta description will usually appear in bold in the search results.

The meta description is embedded as a meta tag in the HTML code of a webpage so that it can tell your search engine what your webpage is all about.

The HTML meta tag usually looks like this:

<meta name=”description” content=”Description about the content on your webpage of up to 160 characters.” />

Why do meta descriptions matter?

A meta description indirectly acts as a sales pitch for your website. Copywriting a meta description effectively can help your website in the following ways.

Rank well on search engine results pages. A relevant and detailed meta description which contains the keywords or phrases matching what users are searching for is more likely to end up at the top of search engine results pages.

Get more click-throughs. A convincing meta description will encourage clicks and drive traffic to your website. Indirectly, higher click-through-rates can also increase your SEO.

Increase conversions. An eye-catching meta description not only gets you more clicks, but also increases your chances of converting your visitors into leads or revenue-generating customers.

Helps in brand positioning. An effective meta description can help to differentiate your business or service from your competitors. If your competitor does not have a meta description but you do, this helps your website stand out in search results and builds credibility.

For more insights, watch this Google Webmasters video titled “How much time should I spend on Meta Tags and which ones matter.”

Do you really need to write unique meta descriptions for each webpage?

It’s essential to have a meta description for your home page and other “money-making” or “revenue-generating” pages. These are the pages that will help you to get leads, drive conversions or increase sales.

But it’s probably not necessary to write a unique meta description for every single webpage. More importantly, you should not have duplicate meta descriptions.

In short, do write meta descriptions for the pages that really matter.

This Google Webmaster video sums it up quite nicely.

Stay tuned for our next blog post on how to write effective meta descriptions.